Drag Me Away
by Sarah Owen
Summary: Tucker helps out when T'Pol's past comes back to her...
1. Default Chapter

OK, big introduction bit coming up here. The characters aren't the way they should be, I do realise that. This was a fic I had to write and I hope you all get that. Some of the scenes need a little polish and hopefully, at some stage, I'll get round to doing it. Please read & review - all constructive comments welcomed.  
  
I own none of these characters and no profit will be made from this story. 


	2. Sisters

Chapter 1 - Sisters  
  
The door chimed.  
  
"T'Pol? It's me. Open up."  
  
  
  
"Go away, Commander"  
  
"Do you really want me standing out here making a scene?"  
  
The door slid open and Commander Charles Tucker III strode through, with an exasperated, worried look on his face. He found T'Pol looking out of the window in her cabin, her back to the door and to him.  
  
"So."  
  
"Is there a purpose to your visit, Commander?"  
  
  
  
"Yeah. What the hell is going on with you?"  
  
  
  
"I don't understand your question, Commander"  
  
  
  
"You know exactly what I mean. And stop it with the 'Commander'. You're really beginning to irritate me"  
  
  
  
"Then perhaps you should go"  
  
  
  
"I'm not going until you tell me what the hell is wrong! I saw you with Commander Haynes. What was all that about?"  
  
  
  
"I am unsure to what you are referring, Mr Tucker"  
  
  
  
"T'Pol! It's Trip and you know damn well what I am referring to! You pretty much lost it at dinner. Well, as much as you ever lose it. The Captain wants to know what the problem is"  
  
  
  
"You can inform the Captain that there is no problem"  
  
  
  
"T'Pol. I'm not blind. Something happened. You wanna talk about it?"  
  
  
  
"No."  
  
  
  
"So, something happened?"  
  
  
  
"Commander, this is a personal matter. One I don't wish to discuss with the Captain or with you. Please leave.  
  
  
  
"It's Trip. And I'm not going anywhere till you tell me what's up" Trip walked over to the bed and sat himself down. "I'm not going anywhere till you tell me. And I'm kinda assuming that you want to sleep at some stage"  
  
  
  
T'Pol turned around. Her face was drawn and white. "Fine. I will tell you"  
  
  
  
"Well, good. Go on, then"  
  
  
  
T'Pol took a deep breath.  
  
  
  
"This boarding party is not the first time I have met Commander Haynes"  
  
  
  
"Yeah, I kinda gathered that"  
  
  
  
"Do you wish me to tell you or do you want to interrupt me every five seconds?"  
  
  
  
"Sorry."  
  
  
  
"I first met Commander Haynes when he was on an assignment at the Vulcan embassy."  
  
  
  
"And?"  
  
  
  
"Trip. This is very difficult for me."  
  
  
  
Trip opened his mouth to speak and then hurriedly closed it again, when he saw T'Pol visibly struggling to continue. She turned around again to face the window.  
  
  
  
"T'Pol?"  
  
  
  
"I don't think this is a good idea, Commander."  
  
  
  
"We back to that?"  
  
  
  
"Please. Please go." Trip sighed, and stood up, pulling his hand through his hair.  
  
"This isn't over y'know. I'm going to find out. You want me to ask him?"  
  
  
  
"NO! Please, please don't." T'Pol turned to face him again. "Please, please don't ask him."  
  
Trip looked puzzled, and well, shocked. He'd never seen T'Pol act this way about anything. "OK, look, how about I come back later? We'll talk about it then. Have you eaten? I'll bring some food. We'll talk. No pressure. OK?"  
  
  
  
"Thank you".  
  
Trip left T'Pol's quarters confused. More confused than usual. He'd never seen her act this way. Ever. He was striding down the corridors towards engineering and stopped mid-stride, crashing into a huddle of ensigns.  
  
Jon. Jon would know what to do. Trip turned around and strode in the other direction, leaving a group of bruised ensigns and a bewildered, frightened Vulcan behind him. 


	3. Meetings

Chapter 2 - Meetings  
  
The door chimed.  
  
"Got a sec?"  
  
Jonathan Archer opened the door and said, "For you, I've got sixty. Come in". Trip walked in, sat himself down and started fidgeting.  
  
"I'm presuming this isn't business. What's wrong?"  
  
"Well, I went to see her."  
  
"Her? Aaah."  
  
"Whaddya mean, 'Aaah'?"  
  
"You have your 'T'Pol' face on. You find out if anything's wrong?"  
  
"Something is. Something pretty big. She's a mess, Jon." Archer waited.  
  
"It's got something to do with Commander Haynes, the guy in the boarding party" Trip stopped fiddling and looked at his captain.  
  
"Haynes? The tall guy?"  
  
"Yeah, she said she'd met him before. At the embassy."  
  
  
  
"And?" Archer watched his friend struggle.  
  
"Y'know, I can't even put it into words. She was frightened I would go and ask him if there was a problem"  
  
"You're not going to right?"  
  
  
  
"God, no. I just wish I knew what was up. She's. Aah, hell. Why am I doing this again?" Trip got up to leave.  
  
  
  
"You're a good man, Tucker. Let me know if I can help." Trip smiled at him weakly.  
  
  
  
"Thanks." Trip left the Captain's quarters, his mind mulling over the events over the past two days. Two days, was that all? It felt like longer. He headed towards the mess hall, remembering his promise about food. Two days. The party had boarded Enterprise, guests from a Vulcan ship on their way to some godforsaken science station where Enterprise was supposed to leave them. A firm request from Starfleet to treat their guests with the respect that was due to them yada yada yada. Trip had ruefully admitted to himself that he had tuned out by then, obsessing over something, strangely he couldn't remember what it was now.  
  
  
  
He'd only remembered about the party when his deputy had reminded him that he was due to greet these very important visitors in just under 5 minutes. "Damn! Why the hell didn't anyone remind me sooner?" His deputy had tactfully not mentioned the fact that every 10 minutes for the past hour he had been reminding him to go and get cleaned up and bustled away, picking up the sheaf's of paper that Trip had strewn across the floor, in his rush to get to his quarters to get rid of some of the grease that he had somehow managed to accumulate all over his uniform. "Interesting that he never leaves tools lying around like that..." his deputy chuckled to himself.  
  
  
  
Trip had made it down to the party just as they had boarded and introductions were being made. Archer had just introduced himself and was saying, "This is our science officer, Sub-Commander T'Pol. T'Pol, Dr Stephen Myers, Commander Isobel Lang and Commander Thomas Haynes". He had seen T'Pol's face when Haynes was introduced. She had blanched white and remained that colour for the past two days. Her eyes had dilated as she murmured a greeting. Trip hadn't thought much of it at the time. "Probably forgot to meditate this morning" and he'd strode out and greeted the rest of the party, not noticing T'Pol slipping off as soon as it was possible for her to leave unnoticed. 


	4. Digging

Chapter 3 - Digging  
  
The door chimed.  
  
"T'Pol. Umm, little help?"  
  
T'Pol went to her door and saw Trip laden down with food, both on a small trolley to the side of him, in his arms and various things squashed into his pockets.  
  
"Have you been crying, T'Pol?"  
  
  
  
"Who are you planning to feed, Commander?  
  
  
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, I didn't know what you felt like, so, well." Trip trailed off slightly bemused.  
  
  
  
"You brought everything."  
  
  
  
"Are you going to help me or just stand in the doorway arguing?" He pushed the trolley into her quarters, and started emptying his arms and his pockets onto her bed.  
  
  
  
"Commander!"  
  
  
  
"Will you stop calling me that? What?"  
  
  
  
"You are making a mess." She frowned slightly and moved forward, grasping Trip by the arm to stop him sitting on the bread rolls he brought with him.  
  
  
  
"Huh? Oh. hang on." He cleared enough space and sat down, tugging her down with him. "So"  
  
  
  
"So, Commander?"  
  
  
  
"T'Pol. Humour me, would you? Don't call me Commander. You gotta eat. And you haven't answered my question" he looked to her offering her some fruit. She looked down at his outstretched hand and wrinkled her nose daintily. He shrugged and picked up a sandwich.  
  
  
  
"Not hungry?" She got up and went to the window again. "You never did answer my question." He said quietly into his sandwich.  
  
  
  
"Which one would that be?"  
  
  
  
"Have you been crying?"  
  
  
  
"What is it you want exactly?"  
  
  
  
"I want to know what's wrong. You're unhappy. And yes, I know you're a Vulcan. You're still unhappy. You almost told me earlier." He interrupted her hastily.  
  
  
  
"Why do you care, Commander?" He got up from the bed, walked over to the window, took T'Pol's arm and turned her around to face him.  
  
  
  
"It's Trip, T'Pol. Call me Trip. And because you're my friend." He looked at her, at her eyes, which were looking anywhere but back at him.  
  
  
  
"You can go back and tell the Captain you were unsuccessful. No one will know any different." She spoke hesitantly but with a bitter tone in her voice, one that was unusual for her.  
  
  
  
"What's the Captain got to do with anything?" Trip kept looking at her, willing her to look back at him. Realisation was slow to dawn, but it eventually did. "You think I'm only doing this because the Captain told me to aren't you?" "Aren't you?" His voice was raised slowly.  
  
  
  
Finally, finally she looked at him. "Aren't you?" Her usually unreadable face was almost contorted.  
  
  
  
"God, no! I'm doing this because I care. Because I'm worried about you. I can't remember the last time I saw you eat, it's affecting your work, it's affecting YOU whatever it is. Tell me. "  
  
"Come on. Sit down and talk to me. I got you some tea; it's on the trolley somewhere. Drink something and talk to me" Trip sat her down on the bed and handing the mug of steaming tea to her. He then seated himself on the floor and listened. T'Pol took a sip of her tea and began to talk. 


	5. Back Story

Chapter 4 - Backstory  
  
"The first time I met Commander Haynes was back at the Vulcan Embassy two years ago." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "He knew my sister," she said quietly.  
  
  
  
"Your sister? Hell, I always thought you were one of a kind!" Trip smiled at her.  
  
  
  
"I believe the expression you use is identical twins. She is my twin."  
  
  
  
"Your identical twin? God. Do you have any pictures?"  
  
  
  
"Trip, she's my twin. We look exactly alike." T'Pol looked at him with a stony expression on her face.  
  
  
  
"Sorry."  
  
  
  
"My sister was always.different. She was born two minutes after I was and although we look similar, we were otherwise completely different. She, often, did not act in a.seemly manner for a Vulcan. My feelings towards her were perhaps unseemly in Vulcan eyes as well. Our parents died while we were still very young, and I had always looked after her." T'Pol's eyes gained a faraway look as she took another sip of her tea. Trip stared up at her enthralled, barely breathing for fear of disrupting her.  
  
  
  
"We were both assigned to the embassy in strictly junior roles, but she was so delighted to be travelling to San Francisco. She was curious, always asking questions and when we got there, she was even more so. Free from some of the constraints that she felt were placed on her in Vulcan, she became totally irresponsible. Perhaps not what you would call irresponsible." Trip smiled to himself. "She met Tom Haynes at the embassy. She came home one evening full of him, of it. She told me they were in love that she was in love with him. And I tried to dissuade her, but she wouldn't listen to me." T'Pol's voice was becoming quieter and quieter.  
  
  
  
"She insisted that I met him, said that I would change my mind about him when I did. My approval meant so much to both of them. So, I met him. And I tried to dissuade him. I told him that their cultures were so different that it could never work. That she would only end up hurt. She hurt so easily. Even when we were children. But he promised me, he said 'I'll never hurt her. I'll never leave her'. I knew that neither of them would be dissuaded, so I let them continue." She stopped altogether and began to tremble slightly. Trip's face had fallen. He knew the end of this story. T'Pol took another sip of her tea, and stared down at her mug.  
  
  
  
"He was married. At the time. She found out when one of her 'friends' casually slipped it into conversation. He didn't deny it. I'm not sure what he did. The relationship ended badly and I didn't know how to comfort her. I couldn't help her. She was consumed by it, by him. She became more withdrawn and.she just cried all the time. And I didn't understand, I couldn't." She stopped again.  
  
  
  
"What happened?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"They used to tell me that she was too emotional. By anyone's standards. But she was my sister and I never could discipline her properly." T'Pol closed her eyes.  
  
  
  
"T'Pol, what happened?"  
  
  
  
"She waited until she knew that I was going to be late home from some assignment, I forget what. By the time I got home it was too late." Trip could do nothing but stare up at her, his friend, as she slowly began to disintegrate.  
  
"She had taken, an an overdose. I tried to bring her back, I tried so hard but it didn't work. She had died hours before I got back. And she left a note. A note saying that she couldn't live in a world where she couldn't be with him. Not a Vulcan note. I'm not sure that a Vulcan would leave a note. Or do what she did. He found out. It was kept quiet, but he found out. The embassy was embarrassed, of course, so they tried to hush everything up as quickly as possible. He was there at the funeral, they insisted on having. He was watching as they buried her. He murdered her and he stood there watching as they buried my baby sister."  
  
  
  
T'Pol slowly put the mug down and lifted her tear stained face towards him. "So, now you know. Now you can run back and tell the rest of the crew."  
  
  
  
"I'm not going to run back and tell the rest of the crew anything, so you can stop right there" He slowly levered himself off the floor, went over to the bed and sat beside her putting his arm around her hunched shoulders. "I'm so sorry."  
  
  
  
"Why?" She turned to face him. "You didn't know her. Why are you sorry?"  
  
  
  
"Because I know you. And you're hurt because of it. And because she was your baby sister; she was your twin. I know her because I know you." He hugged her closer and she rested her head on his shoulder and they sat there peaceably until both their reeling minds had quietened down. 


	6. Tom

Chapter 5 - Tom  
  
So, you're going to stay here, right? I'll clear it with Captain, but rest. Eat. I'll come see you later, OK?" She nodded, her head bent and impulsively he went over and kissed the top of it. "I'll see you later", he murmured into her hair and left as she lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering.  
  
  
  
Trip strode down the corridors, the weight of the world on his shoulders, towards the Captain's quarters. He waited patiently at the door and then waited patiently inside while the Captain finished with the officer he was dealing with. When they were finally alone, Archer spoke.  
  
  
  
"I'm guessing from the look on your face that you found out," Archer said calmly.  
  
  
  
"It's not what you're thinking. Whatever it is you're thinking that's not what it is. It's her sister" Trip sighed and slumped against the chair he was sitting on.  
  
  
  
"Her sister?"  
  
  
  
"Her identical twin, goddamit. Just like in a book" Trip rubbed his had over his eyes suddenly weary, weary of it all. Trip began telling Archer what he had just been told interjecting here and there with what he had felt as she was telling him, the sense, the feeling that he had caught of what she felt was her total and utter abandonment. "I don't know what to do. Is there anything I can do?"  
  
  
  
"I think, that you have done all you can do. I still can't believe it." Archer had been steadily reassessing his former opinions on his Vulcan sub- commander, but this! This was something else.  
  
  
  
"The thing that gets me is Haynes. I mean, what the hell is he doing here? He must have known that T'Pol was on board. What did he think he was gonna achieve?"  
  
  
  
"You look all in. Go and rest. T'Pol's off active duty until the team leave. We should reach there in the next day. I'll sort it. Go on, off you go." Archer dismissed his tired chief engineer, who rose, rubbed his eyes sleepily and left the room.  
  
  
  
"My God." Archer said aloud to no-one in particular. How does someone cope with something like that? Archer could barely get his head round the fact that T'Pol had a twin sister she never mentioned, let alone what had happened to her. And Haynes. Trip was right. What was he doing here? He shook his head, and hailed the science office, to inform them of T'Pol's unavailability for the next day.  
  
  
  
Trip was beginning to wander over to his cabin when he heard someone call his name from behind him. He turned around to find a panting Commander Haynes behind him.  
  
  
  
"Commander Tucker. I've been calling you all this while. Can I speak to you?" Trip was startled and a little unsure of the etiquette surrounding speaking to someone who had been going out with the sister of a friend who had subsequently killed herself due to the doomed love affair in question. "My God, I sound like Malcolm. I gotta sleep!" he thought to himself.  
  
  
  
"How can I help you, Commander?" Trip decided to go for the polite approach. His mother had brought him up believing firmly in being polite to visitors. Plus, if he beat the living daylights out of him, he suspected that Captain Archer might have something to say about it.  
  
  
  
"Could we go somewhere, well, private?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"Private?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"Yes. It's about the Sub-Commander."  
  
  
  
"T'Pol?"  
  
  
  
"In part, yes. Aah, I see. She's already spoken to you. About what happened." Haynes looked down towards the floor, and murmured "Please, Commander. It is important." Trip looked at him and relented.  
  
  
  
"Step this way. We can go into my office." Trip and Haynes wound their way down towards Trip's small office in Engineering in total silence. "What the hell is he going to say to me? How the hell did I get into this?" Trip was silently repeating this to himself as they entered the office. "Ah, sorry. The place is always kind of a mess. Please, take a seat". He cleared away all the pads that were lying around, and motioned over to Haynes. "How can I help, Commander?"  
  
  
  
"Please. Tom. I need your help, Mr Tucker"  
  
  
  
"Well, Tom, it's Trip. And what can I possibly do to help you?" Trip settled himself behind his desk and tried to look authoritative, like the Chief Engineer of the whole damn ship.  
  
  
  
"I need to speak to Polly. She won't see me, not properly unless someone asks her to. She's your friend, I know she is. I know she's told you. You've got that look in your eyes. You have to help me. Please." Tom Haynes couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth and he covered his rose mouth with his hands as if to stop himself.  
  
  
  
"Polly?" Trip was unsettled.  
  
  
  
"The sub-commander. Her sister calls her. called her, I'm sorry. She called her Polly. Linny never was much one with Vulcan names. She sure as hell never used hers. Used to drive her sister insane. She used to bound over to people, hand outstretched, 'Hi! My name's Lin'. T'Lin, you see." His shoulders sagged towards the end of his sentence and he slumped down in his chair, waiting.  
  
  
  
"Tom, I'm not sure that this is a good idea. She really doesn't want to see you" Trip tried the tactful approach.  
  
  
  
"You have to try. Please. I need to talk to her. She blames me, I know she does, but she needs to know what happened. She'll listen to you I know she will. Please, try." Trip stood up.  
  
  
  
"OK, Tom, OK. I'll go see her now. We'll go see her now. C'mon." Trip, bemused and bewildered, gently pulled Tom out of his chair and manoeuvred him out of the small office and out through the corridors, until they found themselves outside T'Pol's door.  
  
"Are you sure?" Trip asked, hesitating. Tom nodded vigorously. 


	7. Tom & Polly

Chapter 6 - Tom & Polly  
  
The door chimed. Trip heard T'Pol's voice, took a deep breath and walked in.  
  
  
  
  
  
He saw her sitting on the bed. "Commander. Commander Haynes. How can I assist you?" Haynes almost pushed Trip aside, in his eagerness.  
  
  
  
"Hello, Polly."  
  
  
  
"Commander. My name is T'Pol."  
  
  
  
"How are you?"  
  
  
  
"I am well, Commander."  
  
  
  
  
  
"We need to talk"  
  
  
  
"Do we?  
  
  
  
"Please, Polly."  
  
  
  
"You should leave."  
  
  
  
"I never meant for it to happen, you must know that."  
  
  
  
"Must I?"  
  
  
  
"Polly, please!"  
  
  
  
"What is it Tom? What can you possibly tell me that will make this any better?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"I never meant to hurt her"  
  
  
  
"You were married! Married! You lied to her. You lied to me."  
  
  
  
"I'm not married, I wasn't! I mean, I was, but I was separating. Truly. You have to believe me."  
  
  
  
"Do you blame yourself? Because you should. She died because of you. She died because of what you did."  
  
  
  
"She wrote a note, did you know? For both of us."  
  
  
  
"She left a note? She left a note and you didn't tell me?"  
  
  
  
"After what you did?"  
  
  
  
"What did it say?"  
  
  
  
She pulled the letter out. 


	8. The Letter

Chapter 6 - The Letter  
  
  
  
I'm not sure exactly what I am supposed to write in this letter, but I feel compelled to write it anyway. Compelled, Polly, I'm sorry. I could never be quite as you are, and I am sorry for that. I know that it hurt you, when I smiled and when I laughed and when I fell in love. But you are my sister; my big sister and you'll forgive me. You always do. Do you remember what you used to say to me when I was upset, when I was a child?  
  
'We are one, T'Lin. We breathe and move and live and we are one. One person, not two. We will always be sisters, always. No matter where we go or where we end up, I always be in your blood, in your heart. I am your essence. Think of me, and I shall be there.  
  
I'm thinking of you, Polly.  
  
And Tom. I feel that my hands can't keep up with what my brain wants to say to you. With what my heart wants to say to you. I miss you. I miss your smell and your smile and your hair and your eyes and every living, breathing part of you. I can't believe that you have left me. I can't believe that you aren't here. I love you. I can't breathe without you. You are mine, all mine and all I ever had to give was yours. Irrevocably.  
  
  
  
I love you both. 


	9. Drag Her Away

Chapter 8 - Drag Her Away  
  
  
  
"She stopped breathing without you."  
  
  
  
"Oh, God. Oh, God."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Stop it. You have no right. No right at all."  
  
  
  
  
  
"I loved her."  
  
  
  
  
  
"You loved her? You loved her? She was my blood. She was me, you killed me, you killed us both. How can you show your face to me? Were you there every time she needed help or support or comfort? She was born a minute after me, a minute. She couldn't ever be without me, ever. You took her away from me. You took her."  
  
"I loved her, Polly. She loved me. I didn't take her. She wasn't yours for me to take."  
  
  
  
"You took away my self."  
  
  
  
"She took herself away Polly. She did. Not me. Never me." He took her in his arms. "Polly."  
  
  
  
"She was never like you. She could never drag herself away. You know that. I should have tried harder. I should have made sure that she stayed away from you." T'Pol snarled at him.  
  
  
  
Haynes sighed in irritated exasperation.  
  
  
  
"For the love of God, Polly, stop this! She was your sister, oh yes. I have never met a more stubborn, wilful, temperamental female. She did this because she felt she had to, because she wanted to. Don't you see that?"  
  
  
  
He looked into her eyes. "Polly, I am more sorry than I can ever say. I lost her too. I lost her without having had a chance to say sorry. Without having had a chance to explain and I needed you. I needed you after she died so much. You were the only thing I had of her, the only thing she left. And you wouldn't even look at me."  
  
  
  
  
  
"I couldn't. I couldn't look at you" T'Pol freed herself from him and paced back, uncertainly.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Look at me now. Look at me now." Haynes said quietly, barely breathing.  
  
  
  
She looked up and Trip's heart stopped. Dead in its tracks. Her face was smeared with tears and yet she was as she had always been and always would be. Defiant and proud.  
  
  
  
"Tell me." Haynes looked at her and looked at her, and Trip felt he couldn't breathe until she spoke again.  
  
  
  
"I know. I know really." She said in a small, quiet voice. "I apologise. I know that this must have been difficult for you as well."  
  
  
  
"More than you'll know. I loved you both so much. And then you were both gone." Haynes looked at her, wistfully and then pitched forward and scooped her up into his arms as they both broke down and cried. Cried for what they had lost and would never have again. Cried for all the days past, and the days that were to come and the day that they were in. Without her.  
  
  
  
  
  
Trip saw all this and crept quietly out the room and down the hall until he eventually found himself at his own quarters. He sat down on his bed and didn't get up again for a long time. 


	10. Departures

Chapter 9 - Departures  
  
They stood at the door, the shuttlepod waiting to take the Commander down, the eyes of the senior staff upon them. Haynes turned to face T'Pol, who had emerged from her quarters where they had both been holed up for the past few days. "I'm glad we talked. I've missed you." He enveloped her in a hug, which she reciprocated throwing her arms around him.  
  
  
  
"I've missed you too. I'm sorry."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Goodbye, Polly."  
  
  
  
"Goodbye, Tommy". He released her, knelt down to pick up his bag, turned around and left her, not looking back. She watched him go, and then turned around and walked away. 


	11. Sisters, again

Chapter 10 - Sisters again  
  
The door chimed.  
  
  
  
"T'Pol."  
  
  
  
"Trip."  
  
  
  
"Are you OK?"  
  
  
  
"Yes. Yes, I am." She was sitting at her desk, consulting a PADD, which she had put down on the table. She looked up at her expectantly.  
  
  
  
"Do you.."  
  
  
  
"Commander?"  
  
  
  
"Do you have any pictures of her? I'd like to see her." T'Pol was silent for a few seconds. She reached into a drawer beside her desk and took out what looked like a faded, tattered picture.  
  
  
  
"Tom took this". She handed it to him. He took the picture from her and sat down on the bed and stared at it intently. It was a picture of T'Pol, a T'Pol he had never seen. This T'Pol could have been, would have been a Polly. Her cheeks were flushed, her brown hair was in disarray, and she was smiling, laughing into the camera, her arm around her sister as she was bent over laughing at something, up at someone. Her sister was looking back at him, with a look of adoration in her eyes. Her hair was longer, fashionably cut, and she laughed back too. The sisters looked back at him, laughing and in love.  
  
  
  
"You look like you were having fun."  
  
  
  
"We were."  
  
  
  
  
  
"She's beautiful."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Yes. She was. Especially when she smiled."  
  
  
  
"You two are a lot alike" Trip couldn't stop himself saying it.  
  
  
  
"In some respects. I could never do what she did. I could never lose myself like that. Not for anyone." She looked at him, into his eyes, for what felt like the first time in years. He handed the photo back to her, and they sat in silence.  
  
******* 


End file.
